Radiation detected in Fort Bliss weapons bunker

Chemical and nuclear weapons experts are seen inside an area where radiation contamination was discovered coming out of a bunker in Fort Bliss. Military officials said Tuesday that they've found radiation contamination from nuclear weapons stored five decades ago.

Chemical and nuclear weapons experts are seen inside an area where...

Low-level radiation has been detected in the floor of a Cold War-era nuclear weapons bunker at Fort Bliss near El Paso while rifles and other weaponry stored there also show signs of contamination, U.S. Army investigators reported Tuesday.

The investigation is ongoing, stressed Army Maj. Joseph Buccino, and it's unknown whether radiation exposure has posed cancer or other health risks to soldiers who have worked in the area.

Biological assessments have been ordered for 30 soldiers currently assigned to the bunker, issuing and maintaining weapons for training purposes for National Guard units preparing for deployment to Afghanistan.

"We are still trying to get our arms around how many others have worked there since the Army opened up this site in 2003 which they had acquired from the Air Force. Once we identify them, we want them to be checked out, too," Buccino said.

He could not yet quantify the amount of radiation being emitted, except to say that it only included alpha and beta rays and not the more dangerous gamma rays.

The U.S. Environmental Protection agency says alpha radiation poses the least potential risk since it cannot penetrate skin, and is usually only dangerous if inhaled or swallowed or if it finds a way into an open wound.

Beta rays are able to penetrate skin but can be stopped by even a thin layer of epoxy paint, which once covered the bunker floor to combat the emissions. But authorities are concerned because over the years that paint had begun chipping off.

"Unless you eat or ingest these rays, there's not usually going to be much of a problem unless it's being emitted at a very high level. It all depends on how much and how it's accumulated," said Dr. Louis Wagner, a professor and physicist at the University of Texas Medical School in Houston.

So far no soldiers have reported any ill effects linked to the radiation in the bunker, Buccino said.

"Nobody is panicking," he said. "The soldiers are taking this in stride and appreciate our being transparent. We've made them aware of the problem and are working through it."

Cold War units

The nine igloo-style bunkers were part of the Air Force base used during the 1950s and '60s to assemble and store nuclear weapons during the Cold War.

Biggs Air Force Base, acquired by Fort Bliss in 1966, once was home to a variety of nuclear-capable bombers.

Air Force Capt. Derek White said Biggs was one of four sites where the Air Force kept radioactive materials.

Although Biggs AFB was taken over by the Army more than four decades ago, Buccino said, the bunkers weren't put to use until 10 years ago. While memories about the nuclear issue had long faded, the radiation being emitted has a "half-life of 12,000 years," he said.

The alarm was first raised by an Air Force veteran who saw news reports of expansion at the base and worried that residents and schools might be built on the old nuclear weapons site.

"The guy reporting it was in reasonably good health for someone his age," said Buccino, but he wanted to make sure nothing was amiss.

The veteran reported the bunker had once been contaminated with nuclear weapons waste and then covered over with epoxy paint to prevent exposure.

Locked down

The bunker area has been cordoned off and locked down since July 11 to allow more testing after the radiation was first detected.

"We are checking the area with all kinds of equipment from emissions testing to ground penetrating radar," said Buccino, who added that the evaluation could take months.

Fort Bliss is the nation's second-largest Army base and home to 32,000 soldiers and 11,000 civilian personnel.

While there's marginal exposure risk to those working in the bunkers, Buccino said no one off the base is believed in danger.

The city of El Paso, which wraps around the base's southern end, is waiting on the test results. "It's all still being assessed, and I have asked that I be kept updated," said El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser.

Mike McConnell, chief of police for the town of Horizon 20 miles from the base, said most residents are taking the radiation reports in stride "because the military says things are under control. But … we know very little now. We'll have to wait and see."